Dr Nancy Riggs is Professor of Geology in the School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability at Northern Arizona University. Her research interests center around the relation between volcanoes and plate tectonics and include using the detrital signature of volcanic arcs to understand the initiation of subduction. She will be in residence in the discipline of Geology, School of Natural Sciences, at TCD, where she will contribute to undergraduate teaching, and in GSI.  Her research will focus on ancient volcanism and investigating the amalgamation of geologic terranes that make up Ireland.